It all started with bones. – Charlie Wongpisethkul

Oracle Bone Inscriptions are one of the first known forms of Hanzi, Chinese characters, which were a fundamental part of the evolution of East Asian writing systems. Otherwise known as jia gu wen (甲骨文), these historic inscriptions are found on the shells of tortoises and the bones of large animals. The jia gu wen date back to the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). The found script consisted of upwards of 3,000 distinct pictographs and ideographs, many of which have been interpreted into the modern language.

_{https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/international-affairs/year-of-china/language-and-cultural-resources/introduction-chinese-characters/introduction-chinese-characters#:~:text=Chinese%20characters%2C%20also%20known%20as,integral%20aspect%20of%20Chinese%20culture Evolution of Chinese script from the Oracle Bone Inscriptions to Modern Scripts.}

Found by a village farmer.

The jia gue wen inscriptions were originally found in 1899 by a farmer from the Xiaotun Village of Anyang, which was later revealed to have been Yin–the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Roughly 150,000 bone and shell inscriptions have been found throughout China. As archeologists unearth and study more of the jia gu wen, the script is deciphered to be mostly divine oracles, sacrificial rites, and records of the lunar calendars.

_{https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/42037 Oracle Bone Fragment | Shang Dynasty 1600-1046 BC | 3 x 7 inches}

The Yin inscriptions were not the first.

Still inscribed onto bone, in 1992 an older version of jia gu wen was discovered in the Shandong Province. The set of twelve older bones were able to be dated back to the Longshan culture (3000-1900BC). Subsequently this confirms that the jia gu wen of the Shang Dynasty is a matured, polished version of Longshan Culture’s inscriptions.

How it’s made:

The theory of how the Shang Dynasty created the Oracle Bone Inscriptions starts with a script outlined in red or black ink. Heat is applied to the bone before inscribing to avoid cracking from the sharp instrument. The jia gu wen did not have a neat or organized writing structure as the natural bend and shape of the bones made it difficult to create uniformity.